Food thoughts, recipes and billowing smoke from a home cook's kitchen in London

Beans and Greens Salad

For someone who enjoys cooking so much, I tend to be very lazy when it comes to making an effort on side dishes. I don’t really know why, but it’s something I’d like to focus more on. I decided to start this by making a salad I saw in Olive Magazine (April 2014 issue) to serve with the Greek Chicken Flatbreads I posted here. Whilst Beans and Greens Salad doesn’t necessarily sound the most exciting, it really does taste far more interesting than you’d think. It’s very fresh and zingy and works well as a side dish or, I reckon, brilliantly on its own if you added a bit of feta or chicken to bulk it up.

KB rating 8/10. PR rating 8/10

Beans and Greens Salad(serves 4)

Ingredients:

1 x 400g tin kidney beans, rinsed and drained

100g green beans, blanched and cut into 3cm pieces

200g tenderstem broccoli, chopped into small pieces and blanched

1 small avocado, peeled and diced

2 stalks celery, sliced

½ red onion, finely diced

Good handful of baby watercress

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tsp Dijon mustard

Olive oil

Method:

Put the first 7 ingredients in a bowl. Whisk the vinegar and mustard together, then whisk in 3 tbsp olive oil and season. (I took the lazy option in making the dressing by adding all the ingredients to a clean jar, and shook it vigorously until everything was combined!). Add to the salad, toss everything together. Serve with crusty bread if preferred.